1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dog chews, and more particularly, pertains to a nutritional dog chew based upon vegetable matter.
2. Description of Related Art
Most dogs enjoy chewing on various items, and many are especially attracted to animal bones and animal-derived chew toys. However, bones and many animal-derived chew toys can pose a hazard to a dog in that any splinters or large pieces that are swallowed may become impaled or may otherwise obstruct the digestive tract. Moreover, the nutritional content of some of the processed dog chews, may not correspond to a particular dog's requirements. While various vegetable derived products are available to address such nutritional concerns, the chewability of such products does not conform to the chew characteristics desired in dog chews. The material is either not hard enough to serve as a dog chew or is extremely hard and dense to the point it is brittle and is therefore quickly and easily shattered by a large dog.
It is therefore desirable to provide a dog chew that has the chewing characteristics normally associated with chew toys, but providing a nutritional bone not found in indigestible plastic dog chews and in traditional meat/chicken-based dog chews.